The present invention refers generally to a plate heat exchanger for distillation of a medium, e.g. desalination of salt-containing water, such as seawater. For treatment of a medium the plate heat exchanger comprises a number of compression-molded heat exchanger plates, which are successively provided in a plate package and which form first plate interspaces for the medium and second plate interspaces, wherein the first plate interspaces and the second plate interspaces are provided in an alternating order in the plate package.
Traditionally the plate heat exchanger or desalination apparatus comprise several separate plate heat exchangers since the all steps of desalination could not be performed in a single standard plate heat exchanger. To simplify the equipment or apparatus for desalination of seawater a new kind of plate heat exchanger has been developed, which described in EP-A1-1 864 069. It discloses a plate heat exchanger configured as a desalination plant comprising a plate package, where the several ports of the heat exchanger plates are located in centre portion of the heat exchanger plates. In traditional plate heat exchangers the ports are located in the corners of the heat exchanger plate, close to the tie bolts which takes up the stress. In EP-A1-1 864 069 having the ports are located a centre portion, whereby another distribution of the mechanical stress, the end plate need to be configured differently to take the stress. Further having several of the main ports of the heat exchanger plate in a rather limit space of the heat exchanger plate and thereby also the corresponding port outlets on the end plate in a limit space of the end plate makes the location of the connections coupled to the port outlets rather tight with the standard solution of the connections as shown in EP-A1-1 864 069.